Safety-platform for railway-cars



(No Model.)

S. L. DAVIS. SAFETY PLATFORM FOR RAILWAY CARS.

No. 446,129. Patented Feb. 10, 18 91.

SPENCER L. DAVIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.-

SAFETY-PLATFO RM FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,129, dated'February 10, 1891.

Application filed May 1, 1890. Serial No. 350,158. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SPENCER Ii. DAVIS, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Appliances for Railway and other Vehicles; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improved devices for preventing telescoping of railway-cars in the event of collision; and it consists in the novel features of construction herein illustrated, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a bottom or plan View of the bottom of a railway-car end provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View taken upon line 2 2 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows in said figure. Fig. 3 is an end elevation, partly in section, taken upon the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the platform of a car.

In said drawings, A represents the carasa whole; a, the floor of the platform at one end thereof; a, the longitudinal timbers of the frame-work of the car, all of which may be constructed in the usual and ordinary manner.

A is the draw-bar of any ordinary pattern, secured centrally of the car between two beams a, and provided with a cushioningspring a A is a buffer-beam, preferably and usually of wood, supported from the car by means of the movable bars a so as to leave a space a between the end of the platform and the adjacent edge of the bar A The bars a are rigidly secured to said buffer-beam A but are loosely secured in the end frame of the car, so as to be movable lengthwise therethrough. The central portion of the space (1 which comes opposite the door of the car, is bridged over by a plank or plate A one end of which may be secured rigidly to the end of the platform-floor a, the other end being adapted to rest upon the upper edge of the beam A In said beam are pins of, which project through elongated slots a in the plate A near each end,in order to permitthe beam A to be moved toward the car end without disarranging the position of the plate A B B are the auxiliary buffers, secured upon the ends of rods I). Said rods bpass through the buffer-beam A and are secured on their inner ends to a bracket or cross-bar b, located between two of the longitudinal beams a. A spring B of any desired strength is interposed between the said bracket 1) and an annular flangeor collar 12 which latter is secured upon the rod 1). The tendency of this spring is to cause the buffer B to stand out at all times from the end of the car and receive the first shock from a corresponding bumper upon another car or from any other object against which the car may be brought, and thus lessen the jar caused by such contact, as will be readily understood. These b'ulfers B may be entirely dispensed with, if desired, although I prefer to have them as auxiliaries to the buffer-beam A C C are cylinders securely fastened by bolts a suitablepipe 0 leads to the engine or to other source of supply, and by which the cylv inder is charged with an elastic fluidas, for example, compressed air.

C is the piston-rod, one end of which is connected with a piston-head c and the other end of which is secured to the buffer-beam or bar A The rear cylinder-head c of each cylinder is provided with a relief-valve c of any desirable pattern. Said relief-valve may be set so as to open when the pressure on the elastic fluid in the cylinder has reached any given point desired.

The cylinders C may be supplied with elastic fluidsuch as atmospheric airunder any desirable pressuresuch, for example, as sixty-five pounds (more or less) to the square inch. The said cylinders may be charged from time to time with said fluid from the engine drawing the car or from other source of supply located at the different stations along the route, as desired.

From the above construction the operation of my inventionwill be readily understood to ward the body of the car until they strike or until the moving body'strikes the buffer-bar A causing, if continued, said bar also to move inwardly toward the car. Thereupon pressure is exerted through the piston-rod (against which the barA acts) upon the elastic fluid in the cylinders and further compresses the same. The impelling force of the object moved against the car provided with my above-described invention must be such as to overcome the suddenly-increasing resistance of the compressed fluid in the cylinder and if such fluid is already under sufficient pressure the force of the impelling blow will be cushioned, will then be gradually decreased, and will be finally brought to a stop. Telescoping of the two objects thus suddenly brought into contact is thus pre vented and the serious damage incident to collisions will be avoided. The relief-valves 0 maybe set so as to open when the pressure of air or other fluid in the cylinder reaches a certain point consequent upon the coming together of the car and another car or other object, thus avoiding the danger of exploding the cylinder and causing damage from that source- Of course it will be understood that the several parts will be made of sufficient strength to stand the uses to which they are severally subjected, and the sizes and proportions herein illustrated may or may not be adapted to a construction adapted to give the best re-.

sults in practice, and I therefore do not intend to be limited to the particular connections or forms herein shown.

I have herein shown and described my invention as applied to the end of a railwayvehicles, such as cable and electric streetcars and the like.

I claim as my invention 1. A railway-vehicle provided with one or more cylinders containing an elastic fluid under pressure, and a two-part platform, one portion of said platform being connected with the piston rod or rods of said cylinder or cylinders and being held by said rods at a remove from the fixed portion of the said platform.

2. A railway-vehicle provided with one or more cylinders containing an elastic fluid under pressure, a suitable relief-valve connected to each cylinder, and an inlet-pipe connecting the said cylinder or cylinders with a source of fluid-supply, in combination with a two-part platform, the outer portionthereof being secured to the piston rod or rods of said cylinder or cylinders and movable therewith, said movable part being held by said rods at a remove from the fixed portion of the platform, substantially as described. a

3. The combination,w ith a railway-vehicle provided with one or more cylinders containing an elastic fluid under pressure, each of said cylinders having a suitable relief-valve, a two-part platform, the outer portion thereof being connected with the piston rod or rods of the cylinder or cylinders and being movable therewith, supports for said movable portion of said platform sustained in suitable hearings on the vehicle, said supports being movable longitudinally in said bearings, and an inlet-pipe connecting the cylinder or cylinders with a source of fluid-supply, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a railway-vehicle provided with a two-part platform, the outer portion of which is separated from the fixed portion and is sustained from the vehicle by movable supports, with one or more cylinders secured to said vehicle containing an elastic fluid under pressure and connected to and adapted to act upon the said movable portion of said platform, and one or more spring-actuated buffers secured to the vehicle, having their ends projecting from the vehicle at a point beyond the outer edge of the said movable portion of the platform, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as myinvention I affix my signaturein presence of two Witnesses.

' SPENCER L. DAVIS.

Vitnesses:

TAYLOR E. BROWN, GEORGE W. HIGGINS, Jr.

ITO 

